Background: Immunotherapy has become a promising treatment strategy for cancer. Immune checkpoint blockade with anti-CTLA4 mAb and anti-PD-1 mAb has demonstrated clear evidence of objective responses including improved overall survival and tumor shrinkage, driving renewed enthusiasm for cancer immunotherapy in multiple cancer types including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). There are several clinical trials using anti-PD1 mAb for ESCC in early phases and the results are currently promising.
Results and conclusions: In this review, recent advances in cancer immunotherapy for ESCC are discussed with particular focus on immune checkpoint inhibitors and cancer vaccine.
Keywords: Cancer vaccine; Esophageal cancer; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Immunotherapy.